President Tayyip Erdogan told US President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington this week that Turkey would act “without asking anyone” if it faced any sort of attack from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish media reported earlier today.

Trump’s approval, before the visit, of plans to arm the YPG as it advances towards Daesh’s Raqqa stronghold had overshadowed talks between the NATO allies, but Erdogan did not directly criticise the plan at the White House.

Later, speaking to reporters at the Turkish embassy, Erdogan underlined Turkey’s concerns about the YPG, which Ankara regards as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group fighting a decades-old insurgency in southeast Turkey.

“I believe they will knock on our door on the subject of Syria,” he said.

The United States sees the YPG as distinct from the PKK and as a valuable partner in the fight against Daesh, despite extensive evidence that shows that the PYD and YPG are both Syrian offshoots of the PKK. Turkey, the United States and the European Union all consider the PKK a terrorist organisation, which further fuels Turkish resentment towards its allies.

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